The 1st Latvian working rifle regiment is the national formation of the Red Army, formed from volunteers living in the territory of the Latvian SSR [1] [2] .
| 1st Latvian Rifle Regiment | |
|---|---|
| Years of existence | July 6, 1941 - ??. 08.1941 |
| A country | the USSR |
| Included in | attached to the 10th Infantry Division |
| Type of | rifle regiment |
| Includes | headquarters and units |
| Number | up to 1500 |
| Participation in | The Great Patriotic War |
| Commanders | |
| Famous commanders | A.M. Zhoons A. Melnikov |
History
In July 1941, the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Latvia and the Council of People's Commissars of the Latvian SSR proposed combining the units of Latvian volunteers and militias that had retreated to Estonian territory into two working infantry regiments. To fulfill this order, the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) L A. Ya . Pelshe and Ya. G. Avotin were sent from Tallinn to the Central Committee of Latvia [3] .
The formation of the 1st Latvian working infantry regiment began on July 6, 1941 in the city of Tyrva [2] , it continued on July 7 in Viljandi and completed on July 8, 1941 in Põltsamaa . The regiment was formed as a result of the unification of the battalions of the Workers 'Guards and the detachments of party and Soviet activists, it included the 3rd battalion of the Riga Workers' Guards, the Tukums battalion, the Valmiera battalion, the Riga Komsomol company and other units and groups [4] . The formation of the regiment was supported by the Central Committee of the CP (b) E and the command of the 8th Army [3] .
The regiment was formed on the basis of the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of June 24, 1941 "On the protection of enterprises and institutions and the creation of fighter battalions" [5] .
Initially, the number of the regiment was 1480 people [2] . The regiment's commander was the former police chief of Tukums County, in the past - the Latvian red gunner August Zhuns, the commissar - Eduard Libert [1] . The armament of the regiment was mainly English rifles, there were also 16 English Vickers machine guns and one German machine gun, which was removed from a downed plane.
The total number of the regiment was 1,500 people [6] . The regiment included many Jews [7] .
On July 7, 1941, the regiment occupied Pyltsamaa and the next few days acted battalion, together with the Red Army units, protecting the railways in the rear of the Red Army in the Pikvere - Ariyvere - Valley - Coeru area from German saboteurs and armed groups of Estonian nationalists operating here [5] . At this time, the regiment destroyed several armed groups of Estonian nationalists.
On July 16, 1941, the regiment came under operational command of the 10th Infantry Division of the 10th Infantry Corps of the Red Army [1] , on July 18 it received a new name - “1st Latvian Infantry Regiment” [5] and became a regular part of the Red Army [4] .
On the same day, July 18, 1941, the 1st Latvian Rifle Regiment was tasked with defending the city of Türi together with the Valmiera Workers Battalion [5] .
Also, from July 18, the regiment was included as the 4th battalion of the regiment Valmiera fighter battalion under the command of A. Lukashenko numbering 680 people. [8]
On July 20, 1941, the regiment that occupied the defense in the vicinity of the city of Tyuri first entered battle with the advancing troops of the 18th Wehrmacht army . During this battle, it was noticed that many mines fired by German troops did not explode. During their study, it was found that instead of explosives, mines were filled with sand; in one of the mines there was a note “ Help, than we can. Czechoslovak workers . " Only after the enemy went to the rear of the regiment and there was a threat of encirclement, the regiment began to retreat to new positions near the city of Paide [5] .
On July 24, 1941 [4], a regiment was attacked south of Paide, the attack was repelled, but regiment commander A.M. Zhuns died in a battle near the bridge over the Valge-Jõgi river. The new commander of the regiment was captain A. Melnikov [5] .
As a result of the German offensive, the regiment, together with other units of the Red Army, was surrounded. After a three-day transition, he went to Mustla , where the front line passed, and on August 2 he occupied the battle line.
Subsequently, the regiment participated in the defense of Tallinn [9] . On August 5, 1941, the regiment was stationed on the second line of defense of Tallinn in the area of the settlements of Peril and Kiviloo, on this site it was until August 21.
On August 19, 1941, after powerful artillery and mortar shelling, German troops resumed their attack on Tallinn, the regiment personnel again entered the battle [5] .
On the second day of the fighting, the regiment launched a counterattack, during which trophies were taken (two heavy mortars and a field kitchen), and enemy units retreated with losses [10] .
On August 24, 1941, German troops launched a new attack on Tallinn. On this day, the regiment, along with the Marine Corps battalion , held defensive positions on the highway in the Keila area. During this day, the regiment’s fighters and marines repelled 12 attacks [5] and took up positions near the Tallinn suburb of Nõmme (between the Viljandi Highway and Lake Ülemiste ).
Used as a reliable shock force in the most tense sectors of the front, this part of the volunteers was the most reliable formation on difficult days. [7]
On August 28, 1941, the evacuation of Soviet troops from Tallinn began; on that day, the regiment was loaded with transports and warships of the Baltic Fleet as part of the 10th Infantry Division and evacuated to Kronstadt [5] .
During the transition from Tallinn to Kronstadt through the mined Gulf of Finland, the ships were subjected to fierce bombardment, most of the regiment died. [eleven]
Of the 283 remaining servicemen of the regiment in Kronstadt, the 1st Latvian battalion was formed, which became part of the 62nd Infantry Regiment of the 10th Infantry Division. J. K. Folmanis was appointed commander of the battalion [4] [5] . The formation of the battalion began on September 3, 1941 in Kronstadt and was completed on September 7, 1941 in Strelna .
Subsequently, the battalion participated in battles in the Strelna region [5] and in the defense of Leningrad [4] .
The battalion consisted of 237 fighters (179 Latvians, 27 Russians, 21 Jews, 4 Poles, 2 Belarusians, one Lithuanian, German, Tatar and Estonian each), including 32 Communists and 44 Komsomol members [12] .
After the fighting in the Peterhof area in September 1941, 50-60 people remained in the battalion, they were included in the 76th Latvian separate infantry regiment (formed in September 1941 from the remnants of the 2nd Latvian working volunteer regiment).
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 N.A. Kirsanov. At the call of the motherland. Volunteer formations of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War. M., “Thought”, 1974. pp. 14-15
- ↑ 1 2 3 S.V. Bilenko. Protecting the rear of the country. Fighter battalions and regiments in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. M., "Science", 1988. p. 28
- ↑ 1 2 Soviet Latvia / redkoll., Ch. ed. P.P. Eran. Riga, Main Edition of Encyclopedias, 1985. p. 281
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Soviet Latvia / redkoll., Ch. ed. P.P. Eran. Riga, Main Edition of Encyclopedias, 1985. pp. 225-226
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 The struggle for the Soviet Baltic in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 (in 3 books). Book 1. Riga, "Liesma", 1966. pp. 113-116
- ↑ Moshchansky I. B. - West - East, Veche Publishing House LLC, Moscow, 2010
- ↑ 1 2 Aron Schneier - Captivity
- ↑ This battalion was formed at the end of June from a party activist and fighters for the establishment of Soviet power in Valmiera and in its county. He took part in the evacuation of Valmiera's material assets, delivered for further evacuation deep into the USSR a convoy of 150 carts and a large herd of cattle.
- ↑ Tallinn Defense 1941 // Soviet Military Encyclopedia. / ed. N.V. Ogarkov. Volume 7. M., Military Publishing House, 1979. pp. 643-645
- ↑ S.V. Bilenko. Protecting the rear of the country. Fighter battalions and regiments in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. M., "Science", 1988. p. 128
- ↑ Latvian Jewish soldiers who died in the struggle against Nazism 1941-1945. Book of memory. Compiled by S. Arolovich. Riga, 1997, p. four.
- ↑ V.I.Savchenko. Latvian formations of the Soviet army on the fronts of World War II. Riga, 1975.S. 85
Literature
- V. I. Savchenko , Latvian formations of the Soviet army on the fronts of World War II. Riga, Zinatne, 1975. S. 85.
- I. B. Moshchansky , West - East, Veche Publishing House LLC, Moscow, 2010